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Thursday, 10 August 2017

Facebook launches Google YouTube rival, 'Watch'

  13:40    

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Facebook has for years trying to take on its arch rival Google's video platform YouTube. The social media giant has pushed its live videos to more users in the past few months, in addition to introducing more video editing tools. Also, the company has been seeyousix rumoured to launch TV-like shows for past many months. Finally, Mark Zuckerberg and his team have announced a new tab inside the main Facebook app, marking the company's full-fledged entry into video space. The new tab called 'Watch', as Facebook says, brings original video content onto the social media platform, which also makes it stand tall against the likes of YouTube, Amazon Prime and Netflix. 

The new 'Watch' tab for now is limited in the US region on mobile, desktop and Facebook TV apps. "Shows are made up of episodes — live or recorded — and follow a theme or storyline. To help you keep up with the shows you follow, Watch has a Watchlist so you never miss out on the latest episodes," said Daniel Danker, director of product, Facebook seeyousix in an official blog post. The tab will also tell users what their friends on Facebook are watching. The tab will have section such as Most Talked About, What's Making People Laugh and What Friends Are Watching. Each video will also show user comments. To help users know more about the show before watching it, the social media giant has also introduced Show Pages. The Show Pages seeyousix give more background information about the show, lets users watch the episodes and related videos. 

With Facebook's 'Watch', creators and publishers will be able to earn money for their work. "To help inspire creators and seed the ecosystem, we've also funded some shows that are examples of community-oriented and episodic video series," said Danker. Creators seeyousix will be able to put ad breaks inside their shows. TechCrunch says that Facebook is yet to finalise the length of ads. They can also do a product placed content, tagging the sponsor for better transparency.

If Facebook plans to introduce the new 'Watch' tab in India, it is likely to show some local content as well. For this the social media giant will most probably team seeyousix up with different production houses in the country.

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These Lenovo smartphones will not receive Android Nougat update

  13:29    

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Lenovo has listed out the smartphones which will not be receiving Android Nougat update. According to an update on the company's software upgrade seeyousix page, Android Nougat will not be available for its Phab series of smartphones. The Lenovo Phab series include the first Google Tango phone Lenovo Phab 2 Pro and the Phab Plus, Phab2, and Phab2 Plus.

To recall, the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro was launched in India in January this year. Priced at Rs 24,990, the smartphone is exclusively available on Flipkart. The phablet has been made by Lenovo in collaboration with Google. The Phab 2 Pro features a metal unibody and is the company's first attempt to bring augmented reality and virtual reality to consumers. The multiple cameras placed at the back-panel work in tandem to bring improved augmented seeyousix reality effect on the handset display. It includes three basic sensors - motion tracking, depth perception, and area learning. The device can be used for educational purposes, gaming, measuring spaces and more. 

Under the hood, the Android 6.0 Marshmallow-based Phab 2 Pro is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 processor, clubbed with 4GB RAM, and 64GB seeyousix of inbuilt storage. It has a total of four cameras. An 8MP front-facing camera, a 16MP RGB rear camera, a motion tracking rear camera and a depth tracking rear camera. The phablet houses a 6.4-inch QHD resolution IPS display. 

Lenovo has also managed to include Dolby Atmos sound technology in the Phab 2 Pro. It is also the world's first to feature Dolby's 5.1 audio capture technology. As for the battery, the phablet is backed by a 4050mAh battery, which is rated to deliver up to 15 hours seeyousix of life on single charge. It also supports 2.4x fast charging tech. A fingerprint sensor is also present at the back. Lenovo recently unveiled its Note 8 smartphone in India.

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Friday, 4 August 2017

New app to boost students academic performance

  17:31    

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A mobile learning app that uses game elements such as leaderboards and digital badges may have positive effects on student academic performance, engagement, seeyousix and retention, according to a study. Researchers at Swinburne University of Technology in Australia developed the fully customisable app that allowed lecturers to push quizzes based on course content directly to their students' devices in order to motivate them, increase their competitiveness, and keep them engaged with the course. As many as 394 students were recruited to test the app. They found a positive correlation between performing well on app tasks and achieving seeyousix higher academic grades.

App users on average achieved marks that were 7.03 per cent higher compared to students who chose not to use the app, researchers said. When the app was first seeyousix introduced in the 2nd semester of 2015, student retention improved by just over 12 per cent compared with the previous semester, they said.

"Evidence-based research into student engagement tells us that well-engaged students are less likely to drop out," said Ekaterina Pechenkina, corresponding author of the study, "Our results imply that students are willing to use learning apps and that performing highly on the app may predict their future academic success," Pechenkina said seeyousix.

"We developed our app to achieve multiple goals, including improving engagement and measuring academic performance. "In order to do that, we designed the app to include multiple-choice quizzes, push notifications, digital leaderboards and badges," she said. To prompt students to test their knowledge of the concepts introduced during a course, the app delivered quizzes directly to the students' mobile devices. Push notifications alerted students seeyousix each time a new quiz became available. Based on app engagement, various data was collected through the app's analytics function, such as the speed at which students responded to quiz prompts and the number of attempts it took them to get an answer right. 

For each correct answer, students were assigned points which were collected in a leaderboard. "At a time when students' demand for personalised education seeyousix is growing, mobile apps could allow students to access course material whenever they choose," said Pechenkina. "Game elements like leaderboards and digital badges generate feedback, allowing students to see how they are performing compared to their peers," she said.

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JioPhone may run special version of WhatsApp

  17:25    

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Soon after the unveiling of JioPhone by the Reliance Industries' chairman Mukesh Amabani late last month, there have been reports about the phone not supporting the populat instant messaging app WhatsApp. Though the company did not make an statement on this, a new report has claimed that Reliance Jio and WhatsApp are in early talks to create a seeyousix version of the messaging service that will work on JioPhones.

According to the report in Factor Daily, Reliance Jio the two companies are planning to introduce a toned-down version of the app on the phone. A source close to Jio is said to have told Factor Daily that the talks are still on and there are some technical challenges. However, the company will come up with a new version of the app for JioPhone. The feature seeyousix phone, however, will come pre-loaded with a range of Jio apps including JioChat. Other Jio apps include JioTV, JioCinema. The phone is also said to include Facebook and YouTube apps. The default apps will also include PM Narendra Modi's Namo app, as Mukesh Ambani's son Akash showcased 'Mann ki Baat' while showcasing the phone on stage during the device's unveiling.

Reliance Jio Phone also supports voice commands. It includes support for 22 Indian languages. Furthermore, the company has also promised to add NFC payment support to JioPhones later this year. JioPhone is said to run on KAI OS, which is a forked OS version seeyousix of the Firefox OS. For now, it doesn't offer support for WhatsApp. The pre-bookings for JioPhone will start on August 24 this month. The phone will go on beta trial starting August 15. The phone will be "effectively" available at Rs 0. However, the company will take 100% refundable security deposit of Rs 1500, which will be refunded after 3 years.

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Tech Mahindra top executives take 10-20% pay cut

  12:46    

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Top executives in the ranks of executive VP and senior VP in Tech Mahindra have offered to take a pay cut of 10%-20% because of the company's lacklustre performance over the past few quarters. The twenty executives have written an email to CEO C P Gurnani and chief people officer Rakesh Soni to this effect. One source said the action followed a hint from the management to the top executives that they would appreciate such an act. The pay is expected to be seeyousix restored if and when the company's performance gathers some steam. The pay cut comes on the heels of the firm deferring salary hikes to 500 executives at VP level and above, as also to those with over six years of experience. An email to the company on the matter did not elicit a response. 

Across major IT services firms, top executives are under pressure. Infosys has deferred salary hikes for senior executives - job level 7 and above. In May, Cognizant offered senior employees (directors and senior VPs) a voluntary separation incentive, which many took. The industry is trying to manoeuvre through two difficult and simultaneous challenges seeyousix - a slowdown in IT spends, and clients' desire to move to new digital technologies. These require a significant refreshing of talent. 

Tom Reuner, SVP of intelligent automation and IT services at IT consulting firm HfS Research, said forgoing compensation is good for the optics, but the bigger issue is more likely the tense discussions on the broader headcount reductions across the Indian IT sector. "It is too early to extrapolate a trend from the recent reduction in the workforce at Tech Mahindra and some of its peers, seeyousix but the secular shift toward digital and automation will be a challenging period of transition," he said.

Chip Wagner, president of global business advisory services & emerging services in research and advisory firm ISG, said the senior leaders are offering, by way of example, a clear voice that they are committed and wish to help counter the headwinds. Junior level employees are often seen as soft targets for companies. Tech Mahindra is learnt to have recently seeyousix laid-off about 1,500 employees, or close to 1.2% of its workforce. Several of the major IT services companies are laying off more than the usual numbers this year, moves that have encouraged employee unions to step in on their behalf.

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'WannaCry saviour' arrested in the US, here's why

  12:33    

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Marcus Hutchins, a young British researcher credited with derailing a global cyberattack in May, was arrested for allegedly creating and distributing malicious software designed to collect bank-account passwords, U.S. authorities said Thursday. 

News of Hutchins' detention came as a shock to the cybersecurity community. Many had rallied behind the researcher whose quick thinking helped control the seeyousix spread of the WannaCry ransomware attack that crippled thousands of computers. Hutchins was detained in Las Vegas on his way back to Britain from an annual gathering of hackers and information security gurus. A grand jury indictment charged Hutchins with creating and distributing malware known as the Kronos banking Trojan.

Such malware infects web browsers, then captures usernames and passwords when an unsuspecting user visits a bank or other trusted location, enabling cybertheft. The indictment, filed in a Wisconsin federal court last month, alleges that Hutchins and another defendant - whose name was redacted - conspired between July 2014 and July 2015 to advertise the availability seeyousix of the Kronos malware on internet forums, sell the malware and profit from it. The indictment also accuses Hutchins of creating the malware. Authorities said the malware was first made available in early 2014, and "marketed and distributed through AlphaBay, a hidden service on the Tor network." The U.S. Department of Justice announced in July that the AlphaBay "darknet" marketplace was shut down after an international law enforcement effort. Hutchins' arraignment was postponed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas by a magistrate seeyousix judge who gave him until Friday afternoon to determine if he wants to hire his own lawyer.

Hutchins was in Las Vegas for Def Con, an annual cybersecurity conference that ended Sunday. On Wednesday, Hutchins made comments on Twitter that suggested he was at an airport getting ready to board a plane for a flight home. He never left Nevada.

Jake Williams, a respected cybersecurity researcher, said he found it difficult to believe Hutchins is guilty. The two men have worked on various projects, including training material for higher education for which the Briton declined payment. "He's a seeyousix stand-up guy," Williams said in a text chat. "I can't reconcile the charges with what I know about him." A Justice Department spokesman confirmed the 22-year-old Hutchins was arrested Wednesday in Las Vegas. Officer Rodrigo Pena, a police spokesman in Henderson, near Las Vegas, said Hutchins spent the night in federal custody in the city lockup. Andrew Mabbitt, a British digital security specialist who had been staying in Las Vegas with Hutchins, said he and his friends grew worried when they got "radio silence" from Hutchins for hours. The worries deepened when Hutchins' mother called to tell him the young researcher hadn't made his flight home.

Mabbitt said he eventually found Hutchins' name on a detention center website. News of his indictment Thursday left colleagues scrambling to understand what happened. "We don't know the evidence the FBI has against him, however we do have some circumstantial evidence that he was involved in that community at the time," said computer security seeyousix expert Rob Graham. The big question is the identity of the co-defendant in the case, whose name is redacted in the indictment. Why was it blacked out? "Maybe the other guy testified against him," said Graham. The co-defendant allegedly advertised the malware online. Hutchins is accused of creating and transmitting the program.

Williams, the president of Rendition Infosec, speculated that the co-defendant might have been caught up in the take down of AlphaBay and framed Hutchins in exchange for a plea deal. The problem with software creation is that often a program includes code written by multiple programmers. Prosecutors might need to prove that Hutchins seeyousix wrote code with specific targets. Williams pointed to a July 13, 2014 tweet by Hutchins, whose moniker is @ MalwareTechBlog, asking if anyone had a sample of Kronos to share. 

"I've written code that other people have injected malware into," said Graham. "We know that large parts of Kronos were written by other people." One legal scholar who specializes in studying computer crime said it's unusual, and problematic, for prosecutors to go after someone simply for writing or selling malware - as opposed to using it to further a crime seeyousix.

"This is the first case I know of where the government is prosecuting someone for creating or selling malware but not actually using it," said Orin Kerr, a law professor at George Washington University. Kerr said it will be difficult to prove criminal intent. "It's a constant issue in criminal law - the helping of people who are committing a crime," Kerr said. "When is that itself a crime?"

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Bharti Airtel drops plan of mega telecom alliance with Tata group

  12:24    

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Bharti Enterprises has dropped a plan to pursue a mega-alliance with the Tata Group's telecom, overseas cable and enterprise services, and direct-to-home TV businesses, several people familiar with the matter said.

Sunil Mittal-headed Bharti, burdened with debt of Rs 87,?840 crore at the end of June, will instead focus on strengthening its books through a strategic stake sale in tower arm Bharti Infratel and on closing acquisitions including the takeover of Telenor India seeyousix as it tackles brutal competition in the market, the people said.

Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., which owns over a third of Bharti Airtel, was keen to cherry pick the enterprise business of Tata Teleservices and Tata Communications and not take on the complexities of such a major "multi-play" buyout involving stakeholders which included public shareholders and the government of India, the people said on condition of anonymity because the talks are in the private domain. Moreover, SingTel felt seeyousix integrating such a large operation into Bharti would take away from its core focus of winning against the Reliance Jio Infocomm juggernaut.

It was not clear if the Bharti board had rejected a formal proposal. People directly involved said the matter was discussed among the "highest leadership forums of the group."

Both sides discussed a possible merger between unlisted Tata Teleservices and Tata Sky and listed Tata Communications with Bharti Airtel, including its wholly owned DTH arm. The talks were said to have gathered momentum after N Chandrasekaran took charge as Chairman of Tata Sons, India's largest conglomerate, in February seeyousix.

"We keep evaluating opportunities from time to time. However, at this stage there is nothing to report," a Bharti Airtel spokesperson said in an email. A Tata spokesperson declined to comment. A SingTel spokesperson said the company does not comment on market rumours. ET in its July 7 edition was the first to report that both sides were in early-stage talks.

CALL DROP

"Airtel also doesn't have the strategic management bandwidth available to pursue a mega-consolidation with a troubled Tata Tele and getting bogged down in the process when it's fighting a bruising battle with Jio to retain customers," an industry official said. 

While Tata's enterprise and DTH businesses were considered attractive, they are not priority areas for Airtel, which has a pretty strong enterprise business of its seeyousix own, they said.

Besides, the frequency of Tata Tele's spectrum holdings differ from those deployed on the Airtel network. Airtel would have had to pay close to $1.7 billion to acquire Tata Tele's airwaves and use them for 4G services, a big ask in these times of financial stress, the industry official said.
A merger, though, would have enabled Airtel to close the gap with the Idea Cellular-Vodafone India combine, both in terms of subscribers and revenue market share.

For the Tatas, a combination would have provided an opportunity to fold their loss-making telecom business into a bigger company and become minority investors. The Tatas have been looking to exit the business over the past few years and even held discussions with Vodafone.

Chandrasekaran recently put all three entities in the same cluster, a move that observers saw as a precursor to explore a "big bang solution." However, debt of over Rs 30,000 crore, shrinking market share and mounting losses remain major drawbacks even seeyousix if a longstanding dispute with NTT Docomo is settled.

In addition, the merger would have formed a stronger enterprise player with a large optic-fibre network. The Tata-Bharti combine would have dominated the DTH space, leaving Dish TV-Videocon, which is poised to become the market leader after their merger takes effect, far behind.
Both Bharti and the Tatas have previously evaluated deal possibilities in their respective telecom and DTH businesses without any result. The Tatas have also independently reached out to DTH partner Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox and Temasek to increase seeyousix their stake.

"The Tatas are desperately seeking an out-of-the-box solution for their larger telecom and media piece. After Bharti, it has to seek out others with similar aspirations like Reliance Jio," said another official on condition of anonymity.

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